Yesteryear
100 years ago

By the narrowest margin Mayor R.D. Norton of Hightstown escaped with his life at the Monmouth Street, East Windsor, crossing on Friday last. Mayor Norton was running his automobile slowly up Monmouth Street when it was struck by the train due there at 11 o'clock. The train was half an hour late and was running according to the evidence of the trainmen at 10 miles an hour. The house at the corner of Mon-mouth Street at this point is so close to the tracks that it is utterly impossible to see the track until within a very few feet of the same. The machine, which was a splendid and expensive new Hope Toledo, was hurled 50 feet from the crossing and completely demolished. The impact was so great that a signal post about eight inches square was broken. Mayor Norton succeeded in stopping his machine and reversing the machinery and to this fact doubtless owes his life. As the machine was struck, Norton jumped from his seat toward the speeding train and felt the machine forced from under him. He escaped without injury. The pilot of the engine was badly shattered. Engineer Riley, who was in charge of the train, stopped it and ascertained what damage was done. There is not a more dangerous crossing in the state than this one. Repeatedly the company has been urged to place gates there and it has been expected that someone would be killed there for years. It is said that no signal was given by the train men, but even if there was a signal the site is so entirely obscured that a signal would have been of little use. The machine is a total loss.

Dr. Harry Neafie this week closed a deal whereby he became the owner of the American Hotel in Farmingdale, conducted the last 34 years by Charles W. Brower, now deceased. The property was purchased from Mrs. Brower for $8,000 cash and the sale included all of the hotel furnishings, brass, sheds, etc., on the property. W. Harry Davis, of Freehold, will conduct the hostelry for Dr. Neafie, he having taken charge Tuesday.

75 years ago

Moving his battery to a place under the hood of his eight-cylinder DeSoto to make room for more liquor under the floor boards proved the undoing of a Trenton man in Freehold on Saturday. A short circuit caused the car to burst into flames and the man was arrested and his burned car and 95 gallons of alleged apple whiskey were seized by State Troopers Ryan and McGee, headquartered in Freehold. Arraigned before Supreme Court Commissioner Edward G. Forman, the accused was committed to the county jail in Freehold to await grand jury action on charges of illegal possession and transportation of intoxicating liquor. Later than day a friend came down from Trenton and put up bonds and secured the subject's release. When the car burst into flames on Elton Road, a short distance from the Free-hold-Lakewood highway, a woman near where the car was halted summoned the Howell Township Fire Department from Adelphia. When the firemen arrived they found the driver missing. Discovering that cans of whiskey were stored under the floor boards, they called the State Police. Troopers Ryan and McGee found the driver hiding in a nearby corn field and arrested him. They took 13 five-gallon cans of liquor from under the floor boards of the car and ordered the car towed to Chester's garage at Adelphia (Howell). So cleverly had the liquor been concealed that the State Troopers had overlooked six more cans. This was discovered at the garage and the troopers were called back to get the full supply. The contraband was turned over to the Prosecutor's Office.

A loss estimated at $14,000 was caused by a fire believed to have originated by spontaneous combustion in some newly cut and stored oats on the cattle sale and exchange farm of I. Sagotsky on the Freehold-Adelphia Road at 11:30 on Sunday morning. Included in the buildings burned were a large barn, a wagon house, a machinery house and a milk house. In these buildings were stored some 100 bales of hay, 30 tons of straw, and a number of pieces of farm machinery and small tools. All these were destroyed by the flames, but a number of bales of hay stored in the machinery house [were moved] to a place of safety before the flames reached this building. Six pieces of fire apparatus from three towns fought a stubborn fight for two-and-a-half hours before the flames were brought under control. Good Will Fire Company from Freehold was the first to reach the scene. Also responding were fire fighters from Howell Township and Adelphia.

50 years ago

Streets in Ardena's Freewood Acres may be turned over to Howell Township soon, it was indicated a Township Com-mittee meeting Monday night. "I feel sure the township will take over the streets under the circumstances," Mayor Harold F. Burdge said. "But I want the township to be protected in certain ways, too." Only last month the committee concluded its hands were tied because the assets of the Smith Development Co., the original builders, were involved in litigation in a New York probate court. Charles Seitz, Georgia Tavern Road, Freewood Aces, said Monday night, however, that the company now claims it will turn the roads over to the township if the latter will accept them.

25 years ago

The Freehold Borough Council adopted an ordinance requiring the mandatory hookup and connection to the public sewer system. All buildings, public or private on a street which has the public sewerage system available, are required to make the connections at their own expense. There are some properties in the borough which have private septic systems. Any individual who does not comply with this ordinance will be issued a $25 fine and $10 additional for each day that the ordinance is not obeyed after the 30-day period allowed for the hookup. However, the ordinance depends on federal funding for 98 percent of the cost which totals $21 million to $22 million.

- Compiled by Dick Metzgar